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Throughout the entire Chris Johnson signing, we've been citing Erika Esola a lot. The reason is because she's more plugged into the Johnson camp than the entire beat, which isn't surprising, since the beat are being intentionally left in the dark. Originally, she said that Johnson was planning on visiting the New York Jets, and then the New York Giants, which many didn't believe. After Johnson's physical, he left Florham Park and went to the New York Knicks/Brooklyn Nets game. Many thought he was a goner, and that he'd sign somewhere else. Here's in fact what actually happened.
Jets' original offer made to C. Johnson was 2 years, $8 mil. CJ left. Jets knew he would visit Giants & Bills. Idzik called Segal that night
— Erika Esola (@emesola) April 17, 2014
....Added the extra $1.5 mil performance bonus. Next morning, done deal. Moral of the story: John Idzik learned from DRC situation. #Jets
— Erika Esola (@emesola) April 17, 2014
Sorry, typo. Extra $1m in performance bonus and added $500k to signing bonus to sweeten the pot. So total $1.5m added.
— Erika Esola (@emesola) April 17, 2014
We originally knew that the team had offered $3-4M, and Johnson wanted $5M per year. Many assumed that John Idzik wouldn't budge, because he's shown he doesn't like to deviate from his set value of a player. Obviously, that assumption has to change now.